Rekindle 2003

Chapter 1054: If the price is low enough, there will be a market
Li Guangnan and Huang Lingyi looked at each other and saw the surprise in each other's eyes.

They didn't expect Qing Yun to really have the confidence to do this.

Huang Lingyi coughed lightly, trying to cover up her gaffe, "Xiaoqing, are you sure?
This is no small matter. You have to know that once you agree to it, it will be a collaboration between Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Yanhuang Group, and you cannot be careless about it.

Think carefully before answering, you should know what we mean."

The two are now lobbyists for Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

But they are also Qingyun's teachers.

Although he had never taught Qingyun anything, they were more of a master and disciple in name only.

However, the higher you go in the traditional Chinese concept of respecting teachers, the more you understand the truth and power contained in it.

Qing Yun nodded, he knew what his promise meant.

He took a deep breath, "Teacher, I'm sure. Give me some time to prepare, and I will come up with a feasible plan."

Li Guangnan also regained his seriousness, "Xiaoqing, this is not a joke. You have to know that this is a promise made to the entire Chinese scientific and educational community."

At this point, he seemed to remember something and quickly changed the subject, "You...you should not be like Song Ruhua back then, using foreign garbage to fool people."

After all, Li Guangnan has experience in operating IT business entities. Although he is still engaged in scientific research, he still understands some of the tricks involved.

After he said this, Huang Lingyi also reacted.

It’s no wonder that Li Guangnan has this idea, because history always repeats itself, and nothing is new. There are cases to be found in history books.

Moreover, the most typical precedent of such absurd things as "using foreign garbage to fool people" was done by the predecessor of Yanhuang Group - TOP Group.

The educational machine that TOP developed was essentially a combination of a bunch of foreign garbage.

We collect second-hand computers from abroad, disassemble them, refurbish them and give them to primary and secondary schools for use.

Of course, we don’t accept all second-hand computers.

Twenty years later, some machines were called resource machines.

While Li Guangnan and Huang Lingyi were puzzled, Qing Yun waved his hands, looking speechless.

"Don't worry, I'm not that bad. I can really save it up, and I guarantee it's brand new!
But I have to be frank and admit that this operation is indeed too extreme, and the accessories are definitely a little behind the times.

We can't have both. If you don't think about how to match the 998 yuan, you might as well just ask me to donate a certain amount every year. That would save us some trouble, right?"

Li Guangnan frowned, looking unconvinced, "Xiaoqing, you know, I also worked in the physical world, 998 yuan, how do you save it?"

He had no idea how to equip this machine. How much would a monitor alone cost?!

Qing Yun said helplessly, "Why can't I save up enough money?"

He asked for a pen and paper, and began to gesture on the coffee table, "CPU, use the Cyrix III released by VIA at the end of 2000, Samuel core 533MHZ, the current market price is about 120 yuan."

Li Guangnan hissed when he heard this, "You...it's already the Ghz era, what's the difference between this CPU and foreign garbage? Just because it's new?
It's not impossible, but it's really too backward and it doesn't even have L2 Cache.

Xiaoqing, the CPU with Cyrix III-Samuel core is designed based on IDT-C6.

Because IDT C6 originally used the Socket-7 platform, and the L7 CACHE of the SOCET-2 platform is integrated on the motherboard.

Of course, IDT's design capabilities should be no problem. Maybe the built-in L2 Cache will increase the cost, but the performance limitation of the CPU without L2 Cache will definitely have a great impact."

When he was making the Ark, he conducted extensive research and was well aware of these issues.

Li Guangnan actually wanted to say that this was even rubbish even worse than second-hand foreign garbage!
When VIA acquired Cyrix, the CPU it launched was two years behind the advanced level of the times.

Three years later, in an era when floating-point computing power is rapidly increasing in GHz, this is not just a matter of lagging behind by five years.

Yundi shook his finger, "Teacher, don't be disgusted! This CPU supports an external frequency of 133MHZ, integrates the 3D NOW!! instruction set and the MMX instruction set, and the pins use the SOCKET 370 specification, but there is no L2 Cache design.

Overall, this is not low.”

At least it’s better than the Gousheng No. 1 and No. 2 made by the cheap teacher next to him.

Moreover, the supply price must be strictly capped at 998 yuan, and the customer base is the rural education market for primary and secondary schools. The iterative feedback from this kind of place...

It's not to say that it's meaningless, but it can also be said to be completely irrelevant.

because……

Qing Yun smiled and said, "Teacher, what are our needs? Our needs are to popularize computers among children in rural schools.

No one has a better say on this than me.”

After he said that, Li Guangnan and Huang Lingyi really didn't know what to say.

No one who has a deeper understanding of the matter than Qingyun has the right to speak.

"By bringing the Internet and computers into the mountains and into teaching points in villages and towns, the country's idea is to narrow the educational gap between urban and rural areas and between schools, so that children in rural areas, mountains, and remote areas in the central and western regions will not fall too far behind in this Internet revolution.

But the reality is that, firstly, there is the issue of funding. The financial resources of the village, township and town levels are unable to support it, which is why it is necessary for this computer to be priced at 998 yuan.

The second is the issue of demand. What are the needs of rural children?
It's just learning how to type and how to make simple Word, EXCEL and PPT. It has no other use. It's just general office training.

Even for programming... under the baton of the college entrance examination, I totally do not recommend making it a permanent course. It can be made into a module of information technology for them to be exposed to and feel.

So, this computer is not used for playing games, and VIA's 533MHZ CPU is enough.

I even think it’s a bit of a waste.

Cyrix-6x86MX-PR266 is enough, but it is out of production now. "

Huang Lingyi reacted and asked him, don’t they have a good relationship with VIA, why not just produce it again? She also felt that 533Mhz was too wasteful.

Qing Yun shrugged his shoulders. "Cyrix was acquired by VIA in 2000. The old Cyrix chips cannot be produced before. Even if they are re-produced, they may not be cheaper than this price."

At this point, Li Guangnan understood, "Hey! Don't say that! According to this logic, you can really afford a computer worth 998 yuan!

Memory stick, you can use SDRAM 128MB, what is the current price...? "

Qingyun checked on his computer and said, "The current price is 110 yuan per piece, but it will definitely drop further.

After all, DDR is now popular, and SDRAM is obsolete. When the time comes, we can find Hyundai and help them clear their inventory. If the quantity is large, we may be able to get a lower price. "

The price of SDRAM in 2003 was also very magical. It started from thousands of yuan at the beginning of the year due to the memory shortage, and then dropped to 60 yuan on the last day of the year due to the complete replacement of DDR.

During this year, countless businesses in computer malls went bankrupt due to speculation in computer products.

Li Guangnan walked around the office excitedly, "Motherboard, you can research it yourself, one less thing."

Qing Yun shook his head and said, "It's better to buy a VIA motherboard. It's cheaper, has a better match, and less trouble.

Moreover, I purchased in such large quantities, and given my relationship with VIA, VIA could definitely tailor a model for me, removing unnecessary excuses, and I could get it for 120 yuan.”

He actually wanted to say that he didn't want to waste his precious production capacity on this.

What’s more, self-research doesn’t cost money!
The most important thing is that this is an obsolete configuration, and this plan is also a substitute plan. It is completely unnecessary for him to develop it on his own.

Li Guangnan and Huang Lingyi had no way of commenting on such business considerations and could only agree with his statement.

Qing Yun simply took the initiative to speak, "The biggest advantage of CyrixIII+VIA is that it is a VIA SOCKET 370 motherboard with integrated graphics and sound cards."

In 1996, Cyrix released the MediaGX processor, which integrated all the main multimedia independent components in personal computers, including sound and graphics units, into the CPU chip and achieved lower power consumption.

That is the current integrated graphics architecture, which comes from Cyrix.

Although the Cyrix purchased by VIA had no soul and the real soul of Cyrix was taken away by AMD, the integration concept was retained.

“I still say that our current needs are for education and the popularization of information technology, not entertainment such as playing games or listening to music!
Even for entertainment and general multimedia applications, this CPU is more than sufficient, and even its performance is wasted.”

Apart from playing games and making movies and TV shows, computer performance has always been wasted.

2003年CPU的主频就来到了3.2Ghz，而酷睿i9-14900k的单核主频还是3.2Ghz。

Even with a turbo frequency of 6.2GHz, the floating-point computing capability alone has not increased by more than double in 20 years.

It's just that there are more cores.

In fact, with more CPU cores, the operating performance will be significantly improved when using multi-threaded applications, such as image editing, video editing, and 3D animation rendering.

But in most cases, more cores not only do no good, but actually slow down the entire computer.

In other words, from the perspective of executing a single task, the CPU in 2003, at least in terms of floating-point computing power, is not much worse than the CPU in 2024. At most, it is twice as good, and this number is something that ordinary people cannot physically perceive when they are not playing games.

Huang Lingyi nodded, "You can also use the diskless drive you got from Qinchuan and Intel, which means you can save the hard drive."

Qing Yun laughed and said, "I don't even need a CD-ROM drive. A 3.5 disk save costs 60 yuan, a keyboard and mouse costs 40 yuan at most, and a case and power supply costs 120 yuan, which means my host costs 580 yuan.

The system uses Linux, which is free, and is sufficient for running WinXP, just a little slower, but Win95 and Win98 are no problem at all.”

He didn't even bother to count the small accessories like headsets, cameras, and microphones. He just waved his hand and
"I've already said that I don't need to worry about playing games. I don't need to consider a professional computer monitor at all. I can just use a small-sized TV made by a TV manufacturer."

I have inquired about this price at Qinchuan before. A 14-inch TV does not cost more than 400 yuan. It’s just a matter of integrating an output interface on the computer motherboard.

It's nothing more than a problem of refresh rate. The TV is only 30-60Hz, the general rate is 30Hz, while the monitor is 60-144Hz. I have said that I don't consider the needs of any games, so I don't care whether there is ghosting or not.

All in all, the cost of this computer is only 980 yuan, and this is the cost estimated based on the market price. In fact, because I purchase in bulk, the cost will be reduced by at least 10%."

At this point, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Less than 900 yuan."

In fact, you can save money.

The OLPC computer (One Laptop Per Child Project, or $100 laptop project) developed by MIT was based on this idea.

Although the MIT project was a huge commercial failure, the computers it produced were not deployed outside of Latin America.

There are many reasons, such as the founder’s personality, business philosophy, immaturity of technology, lack of business model, etc.

But the fundamental reason is actually very simple, just two points.

First, the founder Negroponte did not understand that this is not a ToC or ToB business, but actually a ToG business.

The buyers are not families, individuals or charitable organizations struggling to make ends meet. This group is more concerned about the issue of food.

The purchaser is actually a government agency.

Only they are willing to push this forward because of strategic needs.

Negroponte chose the wrong clients in his first move.

Second, Negroponte’s product design concept was too advanced, surpassing the productivity of the customer group at that time.

What he hopes to create is a laptop computer that does not need to rely on civilian electricity.

His design is hand-cranked to solve the problem of application in power shortage environments.

Ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel.

People living in an environment with power shortages are usually living in extreme poverty. All they have to solve every day is the problem of their next meal. They cannot even take care of basic education, let alone information technology.
However, Negroponte's idea of ​​a cheap computer was also widely adopted by manufacturers, who launched a large number of low-priced notebooks. For example, the ASUS EeePC netbook is an implementation of this concept.

This has indeed made a huge contribution to the popularization of computers in underdeveloped areas.

In fact, to put it bluntly, when the price drops to a certain level, a new market will be born.

As Li Guangnan and Huang Lingyi listened to Qing Yun's words, their faces became more and more surprised.

They didn't expect that Qing Yun could actually reduce costs to this extent, and it sounded completely feasible.

Looking at the surprise and disbelief on the two teachers' faces, Qingyun smiled secretly in his heart.

Where did this end?!
He hasn't even used the ultimate cost control trump card of the Army...

What's more, there is Song Ruhua, a master of calculating big accounts who also has a lot of bad intentions!

He believed that with the two gentlemen's brains that were willing to kill people with poison, it would be absolutely no problem to reduce the cost by 20% on this basis.

In other words, he still has room for profit from this project and will not lose money at all.

and……

This was just a backup plan that he never wanted to use in his life.

The real plan...

Thinking of this, Qing Yun's lips unconsciously curled up into a confident smile.

At this time, Huang Lingyi's expression became a little unnatural.

She seemed to want to say something, but was hesitant.

Qing Yun noticed her hesitation and encouraged her, "Teacher Huang, if you have any suggestions, please tell us and we can discuss them together."

Huang Lingyi took a deep breath and finally mustered up the courage to say, "Xiaoqing, since the performance of the Cyrix-6x86MX-PR266 CPU is sufficient, and our system is Linux, then..."

She paused, as if searching for the right words.

"Then, can we consider using the Loongson 2B that I just taped out? Its floating-point computing capability has reached 300MHz, and..."

Huang Lingyi didn't continue speaking, but her eyes were full of anticipation when she looked at Qingyun.

Seeing this, Li Guangnan also chimed in, "Xiaoqing, your teacher Huang means that we can start with the Loongson path...

Of course, this is just a discussion. If the loss is too great, forget it.”

After all, he had been involved in the real industry, and he reacted halfway through the conversation.

It doesn't make sense from a business perspective at the moment.

When it comes to CPU, you can’t just look at its floating-point computing capabilities.

The X86 architecture, which currently dominates the market, has left no room for the Loongson processor, which uses the MIPS architecture.

At this moment Huang Lingyi also reacted and smiled unnaturally.

Through the discussion of the 'Light Chasing Project', she now has a new understanding of the development of chips.

She was indeed imagining things.

After all, the educational machine is a commercial project. In order to realize the country's ideas, Qingyun can not make money, or even lose less money, which is acceptable.

But huge losses are definitely not an option. After all, this guy has too many things to do, and he can't just keep taking advantage of one person, as it will affect the overall situation.

Huang Lingyi waved her hand gently, with a hint of relief in her tone, trying to ease the atmosphere.

"Xiaoqing, don't take it personally. I just said it casually. Let's make the educational machine first, and then we can talk about other things."

Qing Yun pondered for a moment, then nodded seriously, "Teacher Huang, Loongson 2B is indeed not suitable for this project."

His straightforwardness made Huang Lingyi feel a little disappointed, but she still forced a smile and didn't say much.

However, Qing Yun's next words made Huang Lingyi's face suddenly become serious.

"2B is not possible, but the 2C version you are developing is possible, and it will be in time for next year's plan."

At this point, he paused, then looked directly into Huang Lingyi's eyes, "Teacher, please give the Dragon Core to me. You have wasted too much time."

Huang Lingyi was stunned when she heard this, her eyes full of doubts, "Qingyun, haven't we already accepted your financial support?"

As for the "waste of time" mentioned by this cheap disciple, although it made her feel a little uncomfortable, it was a secondary issue.

Qing Yun smiled softly, "Teacher Huang, what I want is not only financial support, but also the leading right to the development of Loongson."

His tone was calm and firm, which surprised Huang Lingyi and Li Guangnan.

absurd!

Li Guangnan frowned, with a hint of displeasure in his tone, "Qingyun, this is scientific research, not a joke! Are you kidding me?"

He admitted that this cheap apprentice did have a unique vision for the development of the industry. He had sorted out the development direction of the entire industry at one go. He was so talented that it was even frankly "far-sighted".

but!

This does not mean that he can have any say in cutting-edge scientific research!
Li Guangnan even wanted to use his authority as a teacher to scold people.

He wanted to say, this naughty kid knows nothing, and yet he dares to demand the leading position in development!

Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you have some money!

……

(End of this chapter)